In the summer of 2013, our BIG adventure as a family was to Blackpool and the surrounding area. Here’s the story of our travels…
Today started with an early morning wake up call. At 3:30am Chris woke me up to find out where the paracetamol was. His wisdom teeth were having a party and decided to do a fidget. I fell back asleep almost straight away – I promise I was a bit more sympathetic. Then again all mine have ruptured and one was removed by extraction back in October so I don’t really have trouble with them any more.
I woke up again at sometime around 9ish I think but it was a lazy start to the day. We drove up the road to see how much of the Camelot Theme Park was still there. Unfortunately it’s all fenced off and there’s CCTV so we couldn’t really explore properly. We were able to go to one of the car parks which is near the top of a hill and we could see the top of the rollercoaster and we were able to take some pictures from there.
We went on a bit more of a random explore and ended up in Southport. Chris wanted to go for a proper explore but I think both Our Sidekick and I were just pleased for a “day off”. We’ve done quite a lot of walking this week and so a day when we do very little was quite welcomed.
We had a brief look at the pier at Southport which is the second longest in the UK after Southend-on-Sea.
We took a coastal route towards Liverpool to go to the cinema later in the day. We ended up going past Crosby beach. I had seen all these figures on the beach but there were so many people on there anyway I didn’t really question it. I’d seen the signs for “Anthony Gormley’s Another Place” and knew the name as he also designed the Angel of The North.
We turned round and found somewhere to park. While Chris was driving I had a look on the internet for further information. Its 100 metal figures looking out to sea spread across about two miles of beach. There’s something quite Doctor Who about it especially from the road as they just look like figures on the beach.
While we were on the beach we had a play with the sand and ended up spending about two hours on the beach in the end. We made a sand minion while Our Sidekick wrote messages in the sand and made towers to kick over again.
Following our beach fun we got back in the car and headed for the cinema at Liverpool. As it was a Wednesday it worked out that we only had to pay for one ticket (I have an Unlimited card and with EE Wednesdays or whatever its called now it definitely cuts down the price). Our Sidekick had chosen to go see Grown Ups 2. Because of the show times we were too late for the 6:20 but too early for the 8:50 showing. Knowing how busy the Wednesday showings get at Bedford sometimes I said to Chris that we’d go buy the tickets then go find some food rather than trying to get the tickets just before the showing and risk not getting tickets given how far we’d travelled to get to the cinema.
The lad who served me definitely wasn’t Liverpudlian. I’m pretty sure he was American or Canadian. I’d expected that Chris would be my freebie and then I’d pay for a child’s ticket but NO! Our Sidekick was my freebie and I had to pay for an adult ticket but on the other had it still worked out at like £3 a ticket or something lol.
For dinner we found a local Crown Carvery (same company as our “local” The Bowling Green). It was busier than The Bowling Green. I think I definitely preferred The Bowling Green. During dinner we sat writing a list about good things and bad things about The Halfway House in comparison to The Bowling Green. Basically we preferred The Bowling Green! They were tonnes more helpful, the lady serving on the CCarvery was cheerful and friendly and super helpful but The Halfway House wasn’t like that at all and the food wasn’t as good. I’ve kept the list and am going to email Customer Service – not to make a complaint as such but to almost point out that there isn’t brand continuity and things like that.
We went to see Grown Ups 2 at the cinema, it was very funny and we all enjoyed it. Often Chris and me have very different tastes when it comes to films but it was good that we both enjoyed this. We also saw a trailer for About Time – Chris quite liked the look of it even though I am pretty sure it’s more of a chick flick lol. (What’s with Rachel McAdam’s and time-travelling lovers?!?)
All in all the film was good but I think Adam Sandler has lost his edge a little bit now – maybe I’m wrong – what do you think?
